I'll Stand my Ground
by Zaikia
Summary: In an attempt to kill Akainu, Shell goes after him and instead, gets handed off to Kizaru. Takes place during the Whitebeard War.


**I'll Stand my Ground**

**Summary: **In an attempt to kill Akainu, Shell goes after him and instead, gets handed off to Kizaru. Takes place during the Whitebeard War.

**Anime/manga: **One Piece

**Category: **drama

**Pairings: **DoflaxShell

…**.**

Shell could only watch in horror as Luffy let out the most, gut-wrenching cry when his brother fell from his arms and onto the ground, a giant hole in his back and chest. Akainu stood away from Luffy as his body turned to magma.

Luffy's screaming stopped abruptly and Ivankov cried out. "Straw Hat boy!"

_Luffy's mind has shattered! He's in complete danger! _Ivankov thought. All of a sudden, the atmosphere became so think with tension that some of the lower marines gasped. He glanced over and saw the dark aura begin to surround Shell. Her head was hanging, her hair hiding her face. Her hands were curled into tight fists so much her knuckles were completely white.

_Oh-no….._Ivankov thought.

Whitebeard looked up from his tears and saw the aura beginning to ascend to the sky. _Shelby? _He thought.

Akainu was too busy worrying about Luffy that he forgot about Shell. He lunged at the incapacitated Luffy, intending to kill him once and for all…until Marco intervened.

"Get Ace's brother out of here!" Marco shouted.

Meanwhile, Doflamingo, who was sitting on a small hill of corpses, felt the tension in the atmosphere change. He looked up and saw a dark aura. "Shell?"

Akainu finally felt the aura and was too late until Shell appeared right in front of him, her fist ready to connect with his face. He saw the look of pure anger on her face and didn't get time to dodge as her fist connected harshly with his face and sent him flying through the air.

The pirates and marines that were watching were shocked at how strong the punch was. The aura surrounding the infamous Queen of Shadows was powerful and could make even the most powerful pirate sweat.

She glanced at the Whitebeard pirates and they all shivered. "What are you lot staring at? GET LUFFY OUT OF HERE!"

"Y-YES MA'AM!" They all shouted and Jimbei grabbed Luffy and fled.

Akainu was just getting up when he saw Shell look at him. The look in her eyes showed pure, murderous intent. Of course, she was in the infamous Queen of Shadows and Doflamingo's lover.

However, it didn't matter. Akainu thought all pirates deserved to die. He stood up to his full height, towering over her. "You think you're better than me? You're a pirate!"

She glared at him harshly. "You're going to die. If it isn't by my hands, it will be by Whitebeard's."

Akainu scoffed and charged at her, fist turning to magma. "You're a fool for challenging me Hartford!"

"S-she's dead!" a pirate exclaimed.

And then she vanished.

"Huh?" Akainu questioned when she had finished and looked above. Her boot came down on his face, sending him face-first to the ground. She wasn't even using her full strength!

"Just how strong is she?!"

"Her bounty is 340,000,000 berries, the same as Doflamingo's!"

"Get up." Shell snarled, moving away from Akainu. "I want to see the look on your face when I kill you."

Akainu snarled and thrusted his hand out. "Inugami Guren!" he shouted and a wave of magma came out from his hand in the shape of a dog's head, with jaw's wide open and ready to strike.

She growled, showing her teeth and jumped backwards, shoving a wall of darkness in front of her. The magma hit the wall and disintegrated, causing Akainu to gasp. Magma was stronger than fire, but how could darkness be stronger?!

It wasn't a Devil Fruit! Blackbeard had the Dark-Dark Fruit!

"Let's end this." Shell cracked her fingers and lunged, only for a beam of light to go through her side. She gasped, her eyes widening as the beam disappeared and she fell to the ground, clutching her side.

Akainu looked over as Kizaru chuckled. "Go after Straw Hat. I'll take care of Hartford." He said and Akainu went after Straw Hat.

Shell snarled and got up, glaring at Kizaru. "Don't get in my way!" she shouted angrily and threw a mass of darkness at him. Kizaru easily blocked it with his Devil Fruit powers.

He put both hands together and then out, forming a giant sword of light. Her eyes narrowed. "Looks like I'll have to kill you first." She snarled and brought out her sword.

Both of them lunged at each other and swords clashed heavily. She snarled and swung, intending to slit his throat, but he dodged clearly and then cut into her arm deeply. Shell jumped back, looking down at her arm.

"And there's more where that came from." Kizaru chuckled.

She glared at him and touched the blade of her sword, engulfing it in darkness. She yelled out and swung, her sword clashing with his. The darkness spread out and formed into spikes, intending to impale Kizaru's face. But he ducked and swung his sword again, slicing into her forehead.

She jumped back. _Damn! He's gotten two hits on me and I haven't gotten any on him. He's stronger than Akainu. _She thought, feeling blood drip down her face. She placed her sword in front of her, the blade extended towards Kizaru. Darkness, blue lightning and black and blue flames began swirling around the blade, causing Kizaru to quirk an eyebrow.

"Let's see you dodge this. Sutoraiku o korosu!" (Translation from Japanese: Killing Strike) she shouted and a giant blast came out from the tip of her sword and heading right for Kizaru. His eyes widened and then the blast hit him, sending him flying backwards and exploding right into Marine Headquarters.

Shell sheathed her sword and then went after Akainu. All of a sudden, a disheveled Kizaru appeared right in front of her, the sword of light in his hand. She gasped and he chuckled. "That was a nice, powerful attack Miss Hartford. But I'm afraid it wasn't enough." And he plunged his sword through her side.

Her scream of pain echoed throughout the area, causing some pirates and marines to stop what they were doing. Kizaru chuckled and grabbed her hair, yanking his sword out. "Pathetic. And you have the same bounty as Doflamingo."

Bleeding heavily from her side, she glared up at him and Kizaru quirked an eyebrow. "How amusing. You have the same fire in your eyes as Straw Hat did when he tried to rescue Ace. But it doesn't matter anymore." He touched the blade of his light sword to her cheek and moved it slightly, drawing a thin line of blood.

She winced a little bit, but refused to stand up. "I'm going to kill you, Akainu and the rest of the marines and World Government if they get in my way. I'll avenge Ace's death and there's nothing, you or anybody else…can do about it."

Kizaru smiled. "You're very strong, I will admit that." He tightened his grip on her hair, lifting her up and causing her to wince loudly. "But you're not strong enough." And he threw her away. She stopped on her uninjured side, but managed to get up. "And yet, you still try to fight." He lifted his foot up, causing light to appear. "Goodbye, Miss Hartford."

Shell snarled and ran towards him, ignoring her wounds. The other pirates and marines gasped as she ran at Kizaru head on, darkness appearing in her hand.

"She's dead!"

"Shell-san, stop!" Ivankov yelled, but she just continued. "Death….Wink!" he shouted and winked, causing the blast of air to collide into Shell and save her from Kizaru's attack as it blasted right beside her.

She snarled and went after him again. He scoffed and threw his leg back; kicking it forwards and hearing it connect with her side, right above her ribs. He felt and heard a satisfying crack and her scream, sending her flying backwards.

She stopped on her injured side and groaned in pain, trying to get up. When she tried to, her ribs screamed out in pain and she collapsed. "Damnit…!" she whispered as Kizaru approached her.

He lifted his leg, light appearing on the bottom, preparing for the final strike. "Any last words, Miss Hartford?"

"Yeah," she replied and coughed a little. "Two words. Fuck you."

"A fighter to the very end." He chuckled and his foot came down.

That's when sand erupted from the ground and sliced Kizaru in half. His eyes were wide with surprise and mine also. Kizaru's body erupted into millions of tiny light particles and reformed 200 feet away from me as the sand came out of the ground and formed into Crocodile.

He glanced down at the 28-year old. "You took quite a beating Shelby."

She grinned. "Yeah well," she coughed a little. "That's what happens when you fight against someone with a strong Devil Fruit."

"SHELL!"

Shell's gaze turned away from her father-figure to her lover, who skidded on the ground reaching for her. "Shell-bell! Oh my poor angel!" the blonde cried and when he tried to lift her up, she hissed in pain. Doflamingo's glare went to Kizaru.

"Where's…Akainu?" she wheezed, clutching her ribs. It was hard to breathe.

"Shell, you have more important things to worry about." Doflamingo brushed the blood-matted locks away from her face. "Man….you still look like a goddess of war."

"Doflamingo," Crocodile interrupted the conversation. "What's your relationship with Shelby?"

"Huh? Oh, she probably never told you." The blonde grinned. "We're together."

Shell felt the air become thick, not like before, but thick. And then it lessoned. Crocodile held up the hook menacingly and glared at Doflamingo. "If she so much as sheds a tear…I'll run you through."

Doflamingo was not fazed by the large, golden hook that threatened to run him through.

Shell struggled as she tried to get up and finally did. "AKAINU!" she shouted out in anger and ran after him. She heard both Doflamingo and Crocodile call out for her to stop, but then she felt two beams of light go right through her chest. She coughed up blood and then hit the ground with a thud.

"The Queen of Shadows is down!" a pirate exclaimed.

Through blurred vision, Shell saw Whitebeard pummel down on Akainu. She smirked weakly. "Thanks Pops….." she mumbled before blacking out.

…..

About two hours later, in the medical bay, Doflamingo heard a scream, followed by hysterical shouting. "Miss Hartford, you can't leave! You'll bleed to death!"

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

The blonde heard a punch and the nurse went flying through the doors and hit the wall, sliding to the ground and was out-cold. Shell came out of the infirmary room, still bleeding and panting heavily.

"Where is he?!" she shouted, stumbling towards Doflamingo. "Where the fuck is Akainu?!"

He was surprised to see that she was even trying to walk around, considering how injured she was. "You damn bird!" she snarled, grabbing his shirt. "Tell me where Akainu is! I'm gonna rip out his fucking throat!"

Then, she made a noise like a groan and then she coughed and blood splattered all over the front of his shirt and pants. She gave a weak groan and then fell right into his arms, blacking out instantly.

He sighed as the nurses ran over and told one to get him fresh clothes.

Later on that night, everything was quiet.

And then there was a blood-curdling scream.

Shell woke up, sweating and panting and crying until Doflamingo came to her side. "Where am I?" she croaked.

"The medical bay." He replied and brushed the hair away from her face. "You've been out most the night. How's the pain?"

She groaned. "It's like a very dull ache. What happened? Did Akainu die?"

He frowned a little. "No, but Whitebeard was killed by Blackbeard."

"What?!" she shrieked and sat up, but he quickly but gently pushed her back down. "Get off Doflamingo! I'm gonna fucking kill Blackbeard and then Akainu!"

"Shell," he grabbed both of her hands and gently pinned them down on the mattress. "There's nothing you can do for Whitebeard…or Ace."

Her bottom lip quivered and then she began to cry. He got off and then pulled her to him, cradling her. She felt so weak, for not being strong enough against Kizaru, not being able to kill Akainu or avenge Ace.

And now Pops was dead.


End file.
